Boston College Philosophy Department Spring 2009 Courses
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Boston College Philosophy Department Spring 2009 Courses PL26403 LOGIC M W F 11 PURCELL PL29201 PHILOS OF COMMUNITY II T 4 30-6 15 MC MENAMIN PL29201 PHILOS OF COMMUNITY II T 4 30-6 15 FLANAGAN PL33901 HEIDEGGER PROJECT II T TH 1 30* OWENS PL40701 MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY T TH 10 30* SOLERE PL40801 19TH&20TH CEN PHILOSOPHY T TH 1 30* COBB-STEVENS PL44201 ROMANTICISM & IDEALISM T TH 1 30* RUMBLE PL45301 GANDHI,SATYAGRAHA&SOCIETY T TH 9* THAKER PL45601 HOLOCAUST:MORAL HISTORY T TH 3* BERNAUER PL47401 LAUGHTER,HUMOR,SATIRE M W F 1 O'BRIEN PL49701 PARMENIDES AND THE BUDDHA M W F 2 MARTIN PL50201 AMERICAN PRAGMATISM M W 3* WELLS PL50501 THE ARISTOTELIAN ETHICS M W F 1 MADIGAN PL51101 AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY M W 3* ONYANGO-ODUKE PL51201 PHILOSOPHY OF EXISTENCE T TH 3* KEARNEY PL52601 INTRO TO FEMINIST PHIL M W F 9 MC COY PL53201 PHIL RELIGION HUMAN SUBJ M W 3* BLANCHETTE PL53301 CAPSTONEPOETSPHLSPHRSMAPS TH 3-5 20 MCNELLIS PL54101 HEALTH SCIENCE:EAST/WEST T TH 12* THAKER PL54401 INTRO TO PHENOMENOLOGY T TH 10 30* KELLY PL58301 PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGY M W F 2 MCKAUGHAN PL61301 NATURAL LAW/NATURAL RIGHT F 10-11 50 ARAUJO PL69301 OEDIPUS AND PHILOSOPHY M W F 10 BLOECHL PL69801 HOSTING THE STRANGER W 5-6 50 KEARNEY For Graduate Students & Dept Permission Only DAVENPORT PL75701 KANT&LONERGAN ON ETHICS TH 4 30-6 50 BYRNE PL78801 ARISTOTLE'S METAPHYSICS TH 4 30-6 20 WIANS PL79101 ARISTOTLE/PLOTINUS/SOUL T 4 30-6 15 GURTLER PL79401 PHILOSOPHY/CHURCH FATHERS M W 3* SCHATKIN PL82701 ADVANCED MODERN PHIL W 2-3 50 SOLERE PL83201 PHIL&THEO IN AQUINAS M 6 30-8 15 BLANCHETTE PL83901 HEGEL W 4 30-6 50 SALLIS PL85601 SEM:HEIDEGGER II W 3-4 20 OWENS PL90101 HUSSERL'S LATER WORKS T 4 30-6 15 COBB-STEVENS PL99001 TEACHING SEMINAR F 4 30-6 COBB-STEVENS PL 160 02 Challenge of Justice Matthew Mullane M W 3* T TH 9* Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: This course introduces the student to the principal understandings of justice that have developed in the Western philosophical and theological traditions. Care is taken to relate the theories to concrete, practical and political problems, and to develop good reasons for choosing one way of justice rather than another. The relationship of justice to the complementary notion of peace will also be examined. Special attention is paid to the contribution of Catholic theology in the contemporary public conversation about justice and peace. Select problems may include human rights, poverty and development in Third World, environmental and ecological justice, just war and just peace issues. PL 193 01 Chinese Classical Philosophy: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism Frank Soo TTh 10:30* Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Satisfies Cultural Diversity Core Requirement Description: Starting from the general introduction to Chinese culture & philosophy as a whole, the course will focus on three of the most important Chinese classical philosophies: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Emphasizing social harmony and order, Confucianism deals mainly with human relationships and human virtues. Centered on the balance and harmony among Nature, man, and society, Taoism teaches the most natural way to achieve this balance and harmony: Tao. Synthesized as soon as it arrived in China from India, Chinese Buddhism teaches that there is “Buddha-hood” in every one of us, and that the Buddhist Way is to have “infinite compassion” towards others. Requirements: • Midterm • Final • One paper (and 5-6 small written assignments) • Participation that includes: [a] Class attendance (obligatory) [b] Group discussions [c] Meditations [d] Group-Project, etc. Reading: [1] Chan W.T, A Source of Chinese Philosophy [2] Confucius, The Analects [3] Lao Tzu, The Tao Te-ching [4] John Koller and Patricia Koller, Asian Philosophies [5] Carole Cusack, The Essence of Buddhism [6] Christmas Humphreys, A Western Approach to Zen PL 216 01 Boston: An Urban Analysis David Manzo TH 3-5:20 Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: “Intuition alone is never enough to explain what you see. One must not only learn to trust intuition but also to pursue its leads: to follow hints from peripheral vision but always to dig beyond first impressions; to see through a scene and its many processes, but also to see through it in time to understand how it came to be, and to guess more skillfully at what I might become.” – Grady Clay, How to Read the American City “In our American cities, we need all kinds of diversity.” - Jane Jacobs, Death and Life of American Cities This course is intended for PULSE students who are willing to investigate, analyze, and understand the history, problems, and prospects of Boston neighborhoods. The above quotes by Grady Clay and Jane Jacobs frame our method of investigation. Assignments will require that you spend time observing, researching, and writing about the neighborhood in which your PULSE placement is located. With the exception of the third session, class meetings in the first half of the semester will meet on campus. (Class # 3 will meet in the Prudential Center). For the second half of the semester, as snow banks give way to slush and sun and blossoms, we will meet in the South End of Boston for a firsthand study of a most intriguing and changing inner-city neighborhood. PL 254 01/02 After Death and Dying Peter Kreeft T TH 12* Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: Why must I die? How can I handle dying? What is it like to die? Can anyone prove life after death? What is heaven like? Is there a Hell? Is there reincarnation? What would we do after death? Is love stronger than death? Can you get to Heaven without being religious? How can we know about such things anyway? And what difference does it make to Monday morning here and now? If you wonder about such questions (and if you are a human being, you do, at least unconsciously), you are invited to come along on a mind-trip of exploration of life's deepest mystery, death. Bring only honesty and searchingness as your equipment. Requirements: Highest of the following 2 grades will count: (1) 2 tests, midsemester and final. (2) Choice of one of the following 3 writing assignments (more than one can be done for extra credit): (a) final comprehensive take-home exam, (b) running philosophical journal, (c) 8 short (2-page) original essays, one on each book; argumentative or exploratory Reading List: Ingmar Bergman, The Seventh Seal. Peter Kreeft, Love is Stronger than Death. Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy. Peter Kreeft, Heaven, the Heart's Deepest Longing. Raymond Moody, Life After Life. Peter Kreeft, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Heaven but Never Dreamed of Asking. C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed. Peter Kreeft, Between Heaven and Hell. PL 262 01 Telling Truths II: Depth Writing as Service Kathleen Hirsch W 3-450 Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: This PULSE elective will enable students to produce a portfolio of writings that engage a serious social concern. Class will be run as a writing workshop. Early on in the semester, students will identify an issue they wish to pursue in depth. At the same time, they will select a genre they want to develop and to work in: non-fiction, fiction, journalism or poetry. Class time will be spent sharing students’ first-hand experiences in gathering insights into at-risk populations, and discussing how writers focus these issues in published work. We will offer one another feedback on drafts, and will discuss the special ethical, research, and editing challenges such work entails. We will also examine outstanding published models of such work. (Students may expand on an issue that has affected them personally, or one which they have observed in their service work while at Boston College. Enrollment in Telling Truths I is not required.) Requirements: This is a PULSE elective. In addition to class attendance, students will be expected to maintain on-going involvement with a specific social service agency or similar organization, as a “site” from which to gather the materials for their writing. This can be done either through the PULSE office, 4-Boston, or, with teacher approval, by independent arrangement. Readings: We will read recent work published in The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, as well as excerpts from several current anthologies of creative non-fiction. PL 264 01 Logic Stuart Martin MWF 11 Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: Logic is the science of correct reasoning. The study of this science aims at perfecting the student’s practical ability for critical analysis and precise argumentation. This course will emphasize the elements of traditional logic but will also introduce the student to the field of modern symbolic notation. Requirements: Working exercises are supplied for each unit of study, and class participation is encouraged. There will be two tests during the semester as well as a final examination. Reading: Robert J. Kreyche, Logic for Undergraduates. PL 264 02/03 Logic Lynn Purcell MWF 11 MWF 1 Level 1 – Undergraduate Elective Description: This course is designed to introduce students with no previous experience with logic to the basic terms, forms, symbols, and methods of logical reasoning especially as they have become important for philosophical thought. The course, then, will have four parts each of which is designed to emphasize a different point in the history of philosophy. The first will introduce students to the forms of rigorous argumentative analysis, which is most widely used in philosophy, and which has relevance for standardized tests such as the LSAT and GMAT.